Sunday, December 10, 2017

As a sometime visitor to the Australian outback town Broken
Hill (birthplace of one of the world’s biggest mining companies), I love to
visit the sculptures at the peak of Sundown Hill, within Broken Hill's Living
Desert reserve.

The 12 sculptures were commissioned a quarter of a century
ago.Three of the sculptures are by
Indigenous Australians, and the international artists are represented by three
Georgians, two Mexicans and two Syrians.

Undoubtedly one of the most striking sculptures is “Horse” (above) by Georgian sculptor Jumber Jikaya. In his artist statement, Jumber explains
his 'work is a tribute to horses. People must be aware of the nobility of the
horse. At Stalin's request, all the Georgian horses (a special European breed)
were slaughtered'. Jumber’s words are there for all to see alongside his
statue.

But did Stalin request the slaughter of all of a special
breed of Georgian horse?

Where is the evidence?

This is a shocking allegation, an allegation designed to
arouse disgust and hatred towards a man already demonised as a mass murderer
and bloodthirsty tyrant. Alongside dogs and dolphins, horses hold a special
place in the hearts of humans.What sort
of evil could call for the slaughter of such a noble animal?

A special breed?

My first problem in searching for the evidence lay in
identifying a horse breed peculiar to Georgia in particular and to greater
Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) more generally.

I could find no reference in English to a specifically
Georgian breed on the web.And I could
not conduct searches in any of the three Caucasian languages, nor in Russian,
which may have turned up some of the evidence I was seeking.On the other hand, if such a shocking
allegation against Stalin were true, then one would expect it to be readily
available in English as further proof that Stalin is indeed the monster of
anti-Communist depiction. (I confess here that I think history will be kinder
to Stalin than the anti-Communists of the present era: he was the architect of Soviet
industrialisation and arguably the most important leader of the Allied fight
against Hitler Germany.)

However, there were references to a horse bred by the
Turkmen of Central Asia which may have shared ancestry with Arabian horses. It
was taller than Arabians and had a longer back. It was noted for its endurance.
Although no pure Turkmene horses survive, their decline occurred long before
Stalin.Four other breeds are said to
have descended from the Turkmene: the Akhal-Teke, the Iomud (or Yomud or Yamud),
the Goklan and the Nokhorli. The Iomud and Goklan are bred by the Iomud and
Goklan tribes whose boundaries are within Iran, not Georgia or Transcaucasia.
The Akhal-Teke and Nokhorli originated in what is now modern Turkmenistan.

It was the Akhal-Teke that made me first think I had found
some evidence to support Jumber Jikaya’s assertion.A paper by Beverley Davis, Timeline of the
Development of the Horse[1],
had this interesting reference:

1935: Horsemen on 15
Akhal-Tekes and Iomuds ride from Ashkhabad to Moscow, 2,580 miles, including
600 miles of desert, in 84 days, to save the breed from Stalin’s order to do
away with their stud.

The “request” (Jikaya) had now become an “order” (Davis), but it related
to a stud, not to the breed as a whole.

Again, where was the evidence?No
book on Stalin I could access, and nowhere in Stalin’s Collected Works, was there any reference to such an order. The
internet turned up other references to the ride, but not one that supported
Davis.

Wikipedia had a reference that contained no motive for the ride.It simply said: “The breed is known for its endurance,[11] as shown in 1935 when a group of Turkmen riders rode the 2500 miles from Ashgabat to Moscow in 84 days, including a three-day crossing of
235 miles of desert without water.[12]“[2]

Two authors published a book in 2007 which referred to the ride, again without
a clear purpose for the undertaking.They wrote: “The Russian military's interest in the Akhal-Teke horse
partially compensated for the disruption of the horse-dependent traditional
Turkmen way of life, but only briefly. A prolonged experiment undertaken by
Russians to improve the breed and increase its size through crossbreeding to
the English Thoroughbred ended in failure, as was convincingly demonstrated by
the famous 1935 Ashkhabad-Moscow endurance ride…Akhal-Tekes are perhaps best known for their
extraordinary aptitude for endurance riding. In 1935, their suitability for the
cavalry was tested in a famous endurance ride from Ashkhabad, to Moscow, a
distance of 4330 kilometers (2,600 miles). Twenty-eight riders, riding
Akhal-Tekes, the related Yomud breed and Anglo-Teke crosses, covered a broad
range of terrain, including a severe, three-day, 360 kilometer (215 miles) test
under the scorching sun of the Kara Kum desert. From the desert, which though
stressful, was familiar terrain, they then rode through mosquito infested
swamps, over rugged, stony footing, through heavy rain and huge forests. Eighty-four
days later they arrived in Moscow. The purebred Akhal-Tekes, notably Arab and
Alsakar, arrived in significantly better condition than the Anglo-Teke crosses,
impressive evidence for the superiority of the purebred Akhal-Teke for
hardiness and endurance.”[3]

Why was “evidence for the superiority of the purebred Akhal-Teke” needed?
The Soviets had apparently tried to improve the breed.This interpretation is clearly stated by Carolyn
Willekes: “In 1935 the endurance capabilities of the purebred Akhal Tekes were
put to the test when a group of Teke tribesmen rode their stallions from
Ashkhabad to Moscow. The purpose of this epic trek was to prove the importance
of preserving pure Akhal Teke bloodlines, as crosses with Thoroughbreds were
becoming more frequent thus diluting the traditional desert adaptations of this
type. The feat was repeated in 1988 when 29 Turkomen stallions – 27 Akhal tekes
and 2 Iomuds – were ridden from Ashkhabad to Moscow across Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. The horses were faced with extreme weather
conditions and varying terrain as well as frequent shortages of food and water.
The ride was completed in 60 days and only one of the 29 horses did not finish.”
[4]

Not only did Stalin not “request” the slaughter of any breed that I can
discover, and not only did he not “order” the closure of an Akhal-Teke stud,
but the ride was a celebrated effort and the subject of a Soviet newsreel,
available on Youtube[5].The organisers of the ride made the
impression they intended: crossbreeding with the English Thoroughbred was
officially halted after 1935 and a second Akhal-Teke studfarm was set up at
Djambul in Kazakhstan[6].

Jikaya’s motive?

If we can find no reference to Stalin having ordered the slaughter of
Georgian or any other horses, then what might Jikaya’s motive be for creating
artwork based on a falsehood?I can’t
find much on Jikaya, although he does have another horse statue (XX Century
-The Dying Horse) at Mt Penang Gardens
on NSW Central Coast. And he and his brother (who also has a piece at Broken
Hill’s Living Desert), began a three-horse sculpture, Horses of the Wind, in
Rustavi, a city 25km to the south of the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Only two
horses were completed by 2007 (right) when it became apparent to the brothers that city
funding was not going to eventuate, so they removed the two already put in
place[7].
So far, this merely shows the symbolic and
aesthetic importance of the horse for the Jikayas.

However, at least two other statues by Jumber Jikaya exist and indicate
the character of his politics.

In October 2015, a statue of two British siblings by Jumber Jikaya was
unveiled in Tbilisi.Marjory Wardrop
(1869-1909) was an English scholar and translator of Georgian literature. Her
brother Sir John Oliver Wardrop (1864-1948) was a British diplomat. In July
1919 he was offered the post of the first British Chief Commissioner of Transcaucasus
in Tbilisi. He promoted Georgian nationalist culture and tried to gather
support from the capitalist nations that had entered the newly-formed Soviet
Union in support of the White Armies in the civil war.He left when Bolshevism triumphed in Georgia.
Today, he and his sister are remembered as heroes of Georgian anti-Communism[8].

Earlier this year, Jikaya won a contest of the City Hall of Tbilisi for
a sculpture commemorating the anti-Communist Czech leader and first President
of the new Czech Republic, Vaclev Havel. The statue (above) was unveiled by the President
of Georgia, H.E. Giorgi Margvelashvili, together with the Minister of Defense
of the Czech Republic, Mr. Martin Stropnicky.

Putting his artistic skill at the service of heroes of anti-Communism is
Jikaya’s prerogative; however, it does raise questions about his motives in
impugning Stalin as a slaughterer of that noble animal, the horse.

People who live in
glass houses….

Anyway, it hardly suits for Australia to go throwing stones at Stalin
for his alleged mistreatment of horses. Can we so easily forget the fate of the
noble Walers, 121,324 of which were sent overseas to the allied armies in
Africa, Europe, India and Palestine in World War 1, only one of which returned, "Sandy",
the mount of a Major-General who died at Gallipoli. The rest were slaughtered
by their own riders (on orders because of the cost of shipping them back to
Australia, and the cost of quarantine measures) or sold for horse meat to the
hungry in France and Belgium. Did Jikaya know about this?

Even as late as May of this year (2017) it was reported that Australian
horses, ponies and donkeys can be exported for slaughter overseas without any
control over what happens to them - a loophole authorities are trying to shut[9].

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Note: I have translated this document from Chinese.It was published on the Chinese website here:
http://www.cwzg.cn/theory/201710/39040.html on October 16, 2017. This is one of a number of Marxist (or “Marxist”)
websites operating in China.If you want
to catch their flavour you can consult the list I have put at the end of this
article.

I am not fluent in Chinese and I apologise for any
clumsiness in the translation.

It is an interesting article because it follows the current
CCP line of working for the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” which,
by itself is no expression of Marxism imho; yet it also defends both Lenin and
Stalin, and core principles of Marxism-Leninism.It indicates that there are still areas on
ideological contestation within China, a country in which the
capitalist-roaders have had the upper hand for several decades.

The article references the article “More on the historical
experience of the dictatorship of the proletariat” written on the basis of a
discussion at an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and first published on December 29,
1956.The article refuted Khrushchev’s
revisionism but in defending Stalin, gave too much credence to the slanders
heaped on Stalin by Khrushchev at the Soviet Party’s 20th Congress.
Nevertheless it has great historic merit should be read by anyone with an
interest in the struggle against revisionism.

Reference is made several times to an article published in
China in 2007under the title “Only democratic socialism can save China”. This
was a call by capitalist-roaders for the dismantling of the dictatorship of the
proletariat (or what passes for it in China today) and for departing from
socialism (or what passes for it in China today). There was a lengthy rejoinder
to this article that I translated from Chinese and put on my blog in twelve
parts.For anyone interested in a major
critique of restorationist advocacy, I will put in the links to those twelve
sections at the end of this article.

Lastly, there are several items that are obscure or
idiomatic that have needed explanation within the text.I have used the […] brackets to indicate my
intervention in the text.

…………………………

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the October
Socialist Revolution in Russia. Over the past 100 years, the socialist
revolutionary movement has surged triumphantly and unstoppably, with brilliant
achievements. At the same time, for the past 100 years, the socialist movement
has also experienced many twists and turns, going into a low tide, leaving
painful lessons. Especially before and after the 90s of the 20th century, the
drastic changes that occurred in the socialist countries of the Soviet Union
and Eastern European countries led to the formation of the period of the lowest
tide of the century. The ensuing social trends have reached an unprecedented
level of exclusion and denial of the October Socialist Revolution.

Today, we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Russian
October Socialist Revolution, which is of particular importance. In fact, the
controversy over the socialist revolution in Russia in recent years is related
to whether or not to insist on Marxism-Leninism. It is related to whether or
not to inherit Lenin's socialist cause. It is a question of whether to continue
to push forward the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics created by
Mao Zedong on behalf of the Chinese Communists, and whether the great
rejuvenation of the Chinese nation can be achieved.

1.The
October Revolution opened up a new era of human history and created an
important condition for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation

Russia's socialist revolution which occurred on November 7,
1917, opened up a new era of human history. As the important article published
by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in 1956, "More on the
historical experience of the dictatorship of the proletariat" pointed out,
"In 1917, led by Lenin and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the
Russian proletariat carried the proletarian revolution to victory and
established the dictatorship of the proletariat; it then successfully built up
a socialist society. Scientific socialism was thereby transformed from a theory
and ideal into a living reality. Consequently, the Russian October revolution
of 1917 ushered in a new era not only in the history of the communist movement
but also in the history of mankind"[1] (P654)

The October Revolution had far-reaching significance; in
fact, it was a multi-level victory. The victory of the October Revolution
proved that Leninism had overcome international revisionism, proved that
scientific socialism prevailed over social democracy, demonstrated that the
working people were able to overcome all the exploiting classes of the world, demonstrated
that the path of armed seizure of power defeated parliamentary roads and proved
that the world was progressing.It
proved that the historical trend of the world had overcome the reactionary
forces of retrogression.

The Russian October Revolution created an important
condition for the rejuvenation and liberation of the Chinese nation. These
important conditions are the following:

1).
The October Revolution provided the guiding ideology and theoretical weapons
for the renaissance of the Chinese nation

The October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China,
and brought theory to practice, and combined the Marxist style of studying in
the light of one’s own national situation. Since the start of the modern era,
in order to get rid of imperialist bullying and oppression, to get rid of the
shackles of feudalism, China's advanced elements continued to seek truth to
save the nation. But none of them succeeded. They never understood why the
teachers always committed aggression against their pupil. After the October
Revolution an historic change took place. As Mao Zedong pointed out in the
article on "People's Democratic Dictatorship": "The salvoes of
the October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism. The October Revolution
helped progressives in China, as throughout the world, to adopt the proletarian
world outlook as the instrument for studying a nation’s destiny and considering
anew their own problems. Follow the path of the Russians – that was their
conclusion."[2] (P1471) "The Chinese people found Marxism-Leninism,
the universally applicable truth, and the face of China began to change."
[2] (P1470) With the spread of Marxism in China, the process of the great
rejuvenation of the Chinese nation accelerated. A year and a half after the
October Revolution, the epoch-making May Fourth Movement broke out in China. A
communist group appeared in 1920, and the Chinese Communist Party, which was guided
by Marxism-Leninism, was established in the summer of 1921. Through arduous
struggle, the Chinese Communists, represented by Mao Zedong, grasped the
approach of Marxism to China, inherited and developed Marxism-Leninism, and
achieved the brilliant achievements of the Chinese revolution and construction.
It can be said that the spread and development of Marxism in China, the
achievements of Marxism in China and the emergence of the theory of socialism
with Chinese characteristics began with the Marxism-Leninism brought by the
October Revolution.The Communist Party
was born in China and led the people to take the road of the Russian October
Revolution; the revival of the Chinese nation embarked on the road from victory
to victory. Practice has proved that this road is the embodiment of scientific
socialism, is the embodiment of the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism.

In recent years, some people drawing from the negative
experience of the socialist construction of the Soviet Union, put forward the
"Su Ma Fei Ma" slogan [roughly, “Soviet Marxism was not real Marxism”
– Translator] that the Marxism-Leninism brought to us by the salvoes of the
October Revolution was not genuine Marxist doctrine. This argument is a
subversive logic. According to this statement, not only was the October
Revolution denied, but it also denied that since the Chinese Communists began to
acept Marxism-Leninism that they had accepted genuine Marxism. This is
tantamount to completely denying the 90 years of Chinese Communists' historical
and revolutionary struggles. In this connection, socialism with Chinese
characteristics has also become an incorrect thing. This "Su Ma Fei
Ma" argument, in fact, fundamentally negates the legitimacy of rule by the
Chinese Communist Party.

2).
The October Revolution provided a successful revolutionary path for the revival
of the Chinese nation

"More on the historical experience of the dictatorship
of the proletariat" states that "the road of the October Revolution
reflects the general laws of revolution and construction at a particular stage
in the long course of the development of society. It is not only the broad road
for the proletariat of the Soviet Union, but also the broad road which the
proletariat of all countries must travel to gain victory.” [1] (P568) Although
the revolution of our country has many of its own characteristics, the Chinese
Communists have always regarded their cause as a great continuation of the
October Revolution. This revolutionary road opened by the October Revolution is
of particular significance in the current international situation. When the
imperialists speak of "changing the nature of the Communist world",
what they want to change is this revolutionary road.

The road of the October Revolution came to China, and was
embodied in: the struggle of the broad masses of working people and all
revolutionary forces under the politically advanced leadership of the Communist
Party of the proletariat; through the long-term armed revolutionary struggle of
the rural areas and the countryside; taking power from feudal landlords, the
bureaucrats and the comprador bourgeoisie, and establishing a socialist system
under the leadership of the Communist Party. The success of the Chinese
People's Revolution in 1949, the victory of the socialist transformation of
ownership in 1956, the establishment and consolidation of the people's
democratic dictatorship, and the long-term efforts to achieve socialist
modernization were all successful under the guidance of the October Revolution.
Although the birthplace of the October Revolution suffered a disastrous
national disintegration, the Chinese people forging ahead in the cause of
national rejuvenation will never forget the October Revolution for clearly
pointing out the correct path.

3).
The October Revolution provided a wealth of basic revolutionary experience for
the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation

"More on the historical experience of the dictatorship
of the proletariat" states that “The international significance of the
Soviet experience in revolution and construction has various aspects. Of the
successful experience of the Soviet Union, one part is fundamental and of
universal significance at the present stage of human history. This constitutes
the most important and fundamental aspect of Soviet experience. The other part
is not of universal significance. Moreover, the Soviet Union has had experience
drawn from mistakes and failures. No country can ever avoid mistakes and
failures entirely, though they may vary in form and degree. It was even more
difficult for the Soviet Union to avoid them, because it was the first
socialist country and had not the successful experience of others to draw
upon.Such mistakes and failures are
extremely useful lessons for all communists. That is why all Soviet experience,
including certain mistakes and failures, deserves careful study, while the
fundamental aspect of the successful Soviet experience is of particular
importance." [1] (P566) This analysis of the Soviet experience or
the" Soviet model "is objective, impartial and convincing. It is
untenable for those who frequently, with extreme ideological methods, deny the
Soviet experience and deny the Soviet model.

What is more valuable is that the Central Political Bureau
has also analysed the content of the basic experience of the Soviet revolution
and construction in the article "More on the historical experience of the
dictatorship of the proletariat" and divided these basic experiences into
five aspects: “(1) The advanced members of the proletariat organise themselves
into a Communist Party which takes Marxism-Leninism as its guide to
action;(2) Under the leadership of the
Communist Party, the proletariat rallies all the working people, and wrests
state power from the bourgeoisie by means of revolutionary struggle; (3) After
the victory of the revolution, the proletariat, led by the Communist Party,
rallies the broad masses on the basis of the worker-peasant alliance,
establishes the dictatorship of the proletariat over the landlord and
capitalist classes, crushes the resistance of the counter-revolutionaries, and
carries out the nationalization of the industry, and the step-by-step collectivization
of agriculture, thereby eliminating the system of exploitation, private
ownership of the means of production and classes; (4) Led by the proletariat
and the Communist Party, the state leads the people in the planned development
of socialist economy and culture, and on this basis gradually raises the
people's living standards and actively prepares for the transition to communist
society;(5) Led by the proletariat and
the Communist Party, the state resolutely opposes imperialist aggression,
recognizes the equality of all nations, defends world peace, firmly adheres to
the principles of proletarian internationalism, and strive to win the help of
all labouring people and strive them and all oppressed nations. What we
commonly refer to as the path of the October Revolution means precisely these
basic things, leaving aside the specific form it took at that particular time
and place. These basic things are all universally applicable truths of
Marxism-Leninism.” [1] (P567-568), In the process of accepting and adhering to
these basic experiences, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation greatly
advanced its own cause.

4).
The October Revolution provided the necessary international assistance for the
revival of the Chinese nationMao Zedong pointed out: "After the victory of the
October Revolution, the isolated struggle for the Chinese revolution was no
longer isolated. We had the help of the Communist Parties and the working class
all over the world." [2] (P1359) Not long after the victory of the October
Revolution, the Soviet government issued a statement to China in 1919 and 1920,
announcing the abolition of the unequal treaties between China and Russia. This
was something the Chinese people had never before seen, and never even thought
of. Therefore, many progressive people praised the Russian Soviet regime as
"the pride of justice," praising the people of the Soviet Union as
"the world's most lovely humans." Sun Yatsen, in his posthumous work
“To the Soviet Union”, praised the Soviet Union, saying: "I am convinced
that your government will continue to assist our country as before." [3]
(P922) During China's anti-Japanese war, the socialist Soviet Union gave the
Chinese Air Force aid and material assistance, and sent troops to the northeast
of China to defeat the Japanese army. In 1939, Mao Zedong wrote: "No other
country has renounced its privileges in China; the Soviet Union alone has done so.
All the imperialists opposed us during our First Great Revolution; the Soviet
Union alone helped us. No government of any imperialist country has given us
real help since the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan; the Soviet
Union alone has helped China with its aviation and supplies. Is not the point
clear enough? Only the land of socialism, its leaders and people, and socialist
thinkers, statesmen and workers can give real help to the cause of liberation
of the Chinese nation and the Chinese people, and without their help our cause
cannot win final victory."[4] (P658)

Even more significantly, at the beginning of the founding
of New China, the Soviet Union gave great generous assistance. The Soviet Union
on October 2, 1949 was the first to recognize the New China and establish
formal ambassadorial-level diplomatic relations. On February 14, 1950 the
"Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance"
and other documents were signed in the Kremlin. According to the treaty, China
and the Soviet Union not only established a military alliance against Japan's
aggression, but also the Soviet Union gave up the benefits of the Yalta
agreement in China. This included: before the end of 1952, the Soviet Union
would transfer all the railroad rights to the Chinese government free of
charge; the Soviet Union would withdrew from Lushunkou; the Soviet Union would
return the administration of the port of Dalian to China; the Soviet side would
provide three hundred million US dollars in low-interest long-term loans to the
Chinese side; the two sides would create four joint venture companies in China
to for oil, nonferrous metals, aviation, shipbuilding, and later developed 156
huge projects to aid China. After all these projects were completed in 1959, the
level of industrialization in China would reach the level of Japan in 1937,
equivalent to the level of the first five-year plan of the Soviet Union. This
was the initial attempt by New China to use foreign capital to promote
industrialization. Without the Soviet Union's strong assistance, New China
would not have remained stable; without the powerful ally of the Soviet Union,
there would have been no safe international environment for New China.As Mao Zedong said: "The conclusion of
the Sino-Soviet treaties and agreements, and the formally legalised friendship
between the two countries, ensured that we had a reliable ally, and made it
convenient for us to get on with domestic construction work and to jointly deal
with possible imperialist aggression and fight for peace in the world.
"[5] (P289)

2
To keep the fruits of the October Revolution, we must defeat the imperialist armed intervention and
the sabotage of the right-wing social democratic forces in order to be
successful

After the revolution in October 1917 established the
workers and peasants’ government, it was in a very difficult situation. This
crisis mainly arose from two aspects: Firstly, the armed intervention by 14 imperialist
countries, and secondly, the destructive efforts of the right-wing social
democrats. The Soviet Union, under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party,
represented by Lenin, defeated the two enemies to protect the victories of the
October Revolution.

After
the victory of the October Revolution, the Soviet Union announced its
withdrawal from the war. The countries that participated in the imperialist
alliance opposed Russia's withdrawal from the war, opposed the revolutionary
changes that took place in Russia, and carried out joint encirclement against
the October Revolution. 14 countries of the imperialist forces encircled the
Soviet Union. On November 28, 1917, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the
United States adopted the decision on the armed intervention of the Soviet
Union. In July 1918, the Allies formally adopted a resolution to carry out
armed interference with the so-called "rebuild the eastern front, liberate
Russia" as a slogan. Britain, France, and the United States landed in two
parts of northern Russia, whilst Japan landed in Vladivostok, massacring
wherever they went, and equipping Denikin’s White Army in the south. They
attacked the cities, killed the Bolsheviks, and posed a great danger to the
Soviet state. In the severe situation of imperialist armed intervention, the
Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries worked with the foreign invaders
to destroy Soviet Russia. Lenin's Bolshevik and heroic Red Army defeated the
imperialist encirclement, demonstrating that the victory of the October
Revolution was the victory of socialism against imperialism.

The
other aspect was the right-wing social democratic forces’ diplomatic and
ideological attacks on the October Revolution. Their destruction was also very
intense. Before the October Revolution, the right-wing social democratic forces
strongly resisted and destroyed the revolution itself. In April 1916, at the
Second Congress of the International Socialists, held in Kienthal near Berne,
the right-wing and Centrist social democrats opposed the Leninist left-wing socialists’
slogan of "changing the imperialist war to a civil war”. After the
February Revolution in 1917, the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries,
representatives of the right-wing social democrats in Russia, advocated the
regime of the bourgeois interim government in which the Soviets only played a
supervisory role. When the conditions of the October Revolution were ripe, the
Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries even publicly defended the
Provisional Government in an attempt to prevent the climax of the revolution.
On April 20, Lenin's "April Theses", "The tasks of the
proletariat in the current revolution," published in "Pravda",
publicly called for "All the power to the Soviets", and for transforming
the revolution from the first stage of the bourgeois provisional government to
the second stage of power to the proletariat and poor peasants. The Mensheviks
and the Socialist-Revolutionaries were extremely hostile to the April Theses,
and they asserted that Lenin's claim was a "dream", and that in
Russia, "the objective conditions required for the revolution did not
exist".They argued that the
socialist revolution should first begin in an industrially developed country
before it can go to Russia; Russia was not yet mature enough to realize the
degree of socialist revolution. And some also denied the possibility that the
socialist revolution in Russia, in a single country, could win victory, and
advocated the removal of the socialist revolution from the agenda.

In
the May 3, 1917 crisis, the army mobilized by the provisional government had
already begun to refuse to execute its order, had refused to shoot the masses
at demonstrations. As the revolutionary situation matured, the Mensheviks and
the Socialist-Revolutionaries would rather join the temporary government
spurned by the revolutionary people and accuse the Bolsheviks of a
"conspiracy" of violent revolution. This had been spread up till then
in the traditional preachings of the opportunists. In the "July
Incident" of 1917, the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who
were in the provisional government, fired at the demonstrators who demanded all
power to the Soviets and openly took a hostile position against the
revolutionary masses. They even mobilized the army, wantonly arrested the
Bolsheviks, ordered the arrest of Lenin. Such a situation showed that the
possibility of a revolutionary peaceful transition had ceased to exist. As the
resolution adopted by the Sixth Congress of the Bolsheviks on Stalin's report
states: "It is now impossible for peaceful development and for the regime
to pass without pain to the Soviets, because the regime has in fact passed to
the hands of the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie. The elimination of the
counter-revolutionary bourgeois dictatorship is the correct slogan. "[6](P
484)

As
the conditions of the October Revolution became more and more mature, on
September 25-27, Lenin wrote two letters to the Bolshevik Central Committee:
"The Bolsheviks must seize power" and “Marxists and the uprising”,
indicating that the situation for the armed uprising was ripe, that the armed
uprising must be put on the agenda, and that they should formulate the entire
plan for the armed uprising. Opportunists clamoured against this, opposing
Lenin's idea, and tried to immediately destroy Lenin’s letter. The October
socialist revolution finally broke out and was victorious on the night of
November 6, 1917 through to the early hours of the 7th, when the capital of
Russia, Petrograd, had been occupied by the Bolshevik insurgents. The
revolution quickly spread to the country. With the opening of the Second
Congress of the Soviets of Workers 'and Peasants' Representatives on the
evening of 7 November, the first proletarian dictatorship of the world - the
Soviet government – was established, and Lenin was elected Chairman of the
People's Committee.

In
January 1918, the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries used the
opportunity to hold a constitutional meeting to fight against the Bolsheviks.

At
the international level, the right-wing parties of the "Second
International" (the “Yellow International”) and "Second and a half
International", were gathered together; after the Revolution, the
"Third International" joint meeting was used to besiege the Soviet
representatives, creating a grim international political landscape. Despite the
twists and turns, Lenin's Bolshevik adhered to and developed Marxism, defeating
the right-wing social democratic forces.

In
the case of the 14-nation imperialist intervention in the Soviet Union, the
representatives of the international right-wing social democratic forces, while
verbally condemning foreign interference, in fact followed the historical
precedent of Britain's help in the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, joining
in with actions of Russia’s enemies. In April 1922 at the Berlin International
Joint Conference, they also attacked the Soviet revolution being carried out
inside the country and publicly supported the Mensheviks and the
Socialist-Revolutionaries in Russia exerting pressure on the Bolsheviks. They
argued that the Bolsheviks " must re-enact new economic policies, and
redefine their political strategies”.

After
the theoretical system of democratic socialism had been basically determined,
it had adopted an incompatible and hostile attitude in ideology and politics
towards the October Revolution and its resulting socialist system. The
so-called "Frankfurt statement", "Aims and tasks of democratic
socialism" adopted by the First Congress of the Socialist International in
June 1951, in the "Political Democracy" part of the statement,
claimed: "Socialists express their solidarity with all peoples suffering
under dictatorship, whether Fascist or Communist, in their efforts to win
freedom. "[7] (P5) It also said: “International Communism is the
instrument of a new imperialism. Wherever it has achieved power it has
destroyed freedom or the chance of gaining freedom. It is based on a militarist
bureaucracy and a terrorist police. "[7] (P5 These remarks explain the
connotation of the word "democracy" in the terminology of the Social
Democrat Party's "democratic socialism". It is different from the
essence of the Communist Party and should be so defined. During the Cold War
launched by imperialism, Social Democratic forces openly stood on the side of
imperialism and acted as its helper, while Social Democratic forces used the
economic and military superiority of the developed capitalist countries to
carry out peaceful evolution of the socialist countries under the leadership of
the Communist Party.

Social
democracy in China had no foundation. Because China did not have a long history
of reformism in the workers' movement, there was no history of reformism, and
there was no material power to support reformism. However, today's domestic
social democratic forces, imitating the attitude of the Western democratic
socialists, have retrieved the “dirty shirt” of social democracy long-ago
discarded by the Communists, and have taken this moribund old thing as a
newly-discovered baby. It is ridiculous. They completely ignored their own
ignorance.

In
our country, the trend of democratic socialism is often mixed with historical
nihilism to create the noise of ideological and political aspects. In the
spring of 2007, China published a public document, a signed article: "Only
democratic socialism can save China." Democratic socialism is the starting
point of the anti-Communist trend of thought, and has become a helper of
imperialism; Since the 1970s, it has become a major force in the collapse of
the socialist countries in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.What is this trend of thought that could turn
into the idea of “saving China”? There were a few people in the Soviet Union
who had learned how to spread the history of nihilism for a long time, openly
slandering the October Revolution and spreading the view that "October
Revolution was a disaster for the world." "Lenin and Stalin were two
knives harming China." “The October Revolution was first a disaster for
the Russians, and then China also suffered”. In the final analysis, did the
October Revolution make a way out for the revival of China, or has it brought
disaster to China? The history of the past century and the history of New China
gave rise to eloquent conclusions. However, those standing on different
political grounds will have different political conclusions.This is not surprising in the world where the
two different social systems coexist.

3
The complete negation Stalin is a disruption of the road of the October socialist
revolutionLooking at the history of the more than half a
century since Stalin's death, it can be seen that the struggle surrounding
Stalin's evaluation has been a point of departure in defending or rejecting
Leninism and the October Revolution. Soon after the death of Stalin, his
evaluation has become a typical controversial issue. Due to the role of Western
hostile forces and the complexities of the international communist movement,
Stalin's evaluation was a matter of heated controversy for decades. After the
collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Red Flag, after the dust of
history was settled, it was more clearly seen that the controversial issue of
Stalin's evaluation was due to the different political pursuits, the different
social and economic interests of the people and groups concerned.

The founders of the socialist countries are not only
ordinary leaders, but also symbols of the system, symbols of history, the
spiritual banners of a generation, representatives of socialist and communist
ideals and beliefs. All those who want to continue to advance the cause of
socialism will love their founding leaders like their own eyes. The attitude
towards the founders of the socialist countries is the touchstone of the true
attitude towards the cause of socialism.With the reform movement of the socialist countries
that began in the 1980s, the question of Stalin's evaluation arose again.
Especially in the Soviet Union, Gorbachev made a big issue of being anti-Stalin
as a stepping stone for the so-called reforms, and as a prelude to negating
Lenin. For a time, a variety of anti-communist elements and liberals reached an
unprecedented level of madness in slandering Stalin. The image of Stalin was
severely demonized. Then the slander against Stalin turned to Lenin, with the
words: Stalin's "crimes" are based on Lenin's theory and
instructions. Lenin and Stalin were negated. However, extremes meet.
Gorbachev's so-called "reformers" were thoroughly exposed and their
so-called "reforms" led to the tragic death of the country, but this
led to the awakening of the people. Over the past 20 years, the Russian
people's ideological tendencies have undergone substantial reversal. Russian
popular and official re-evaluation of the Stalin phenomenon is worth pondering.
As Stalin predicted: “I know that after my death a pile of rubbish will be
heaped on my grave, but the wind of History will sooner or later sweep it away
without mercy.” Sure enough, what Stalin said has begun to come true.

It is surprising that the recent reappraisal and
objective evaluation of the phenomenon of Stalin in Russia have caused the opposite
thinking among some Chinese. Early in the 21st century in China, there was some
noise by a small, uncoordinated gang pushing a negation of Stalin. Some people
have openly always sung a different tune to the Chinese Communist Party on the
evaluation of Stalin, trying to repeat in China the painful lessons that
occurred in the Soviet Union. Some of the major principles of the dictatorship
of the proletariat, which Stalin insisted on, were called "three
whales". [According to an old Russian fable, the earth rests on the backs
of three giant whales. Any three-part policy underlining a basic political
approach is said to constitute these “three whales”. The Bolshevik policy of
“Peace, bread and land” was an example. In the following sentence, it applies
to the three components of the dictatorship of the proletariat under Stalin –
Trans.] Mao Zedong criticized Khrushchev in the 60s for discarding the knife of
Stalin; some people said: this knife that is Stalin is embodied in coercion,
repression and purges and it cannot be abandoned. [8] There were also some
people who, seeing the Russian people's re-evaluation of Stalin, even tried to
overthrow the principled evaluation by the Chinese Communist Party that Stalin
comprised "seven parts correct, one-third error", advocating a
so-called "seven parts wrong, three parts right" public opinion of
Stalin. [9] (P3)

It seems that the controversy over Stalin's
evaluation is quite intense in the current Chinese mind. Gorbachev and others
in the Soviet Union were faced with the severe punishment of history for their
anti-Stalinism; it appears that some people in China today are studying the
Gorbachev line, taking an extreme position of opposition to Stalin. How can
this bring good fortune to China? No-one would believe this at all. Stalin was
a great Marxist-Leninist, a towering tree. It is only the wishful thinking of a
few, slandering his name.History will
prove again and again, that the retrograde nature of these people, in the final
analysis, is the unrestrained activity of an ant trying to topple a giant tree.
[This paraphrases Mao’s poem of January 9, 1953, replying to Guo Moruo “Ants on
the locust tree assume a great-nation swagger/ And mayflies lightly plot to
topple the giant tree”, a reference to imperialists and revisionists – Trans.]

Today, although the controversy over the evaluation
of Stalin still exists, history is moving on. The experience of the Soviet
people, the continuous decryption and publication of the Soviet archives,
creates better and better conditions for the people of the world to correctly
evaluate Stalin. In particular, Russian President Vladimir Putin vigorously
restored the real history of the Soviet Union, to get rid of the foul
atmosphere of historical nihilism of the Gorbachev period. Russia has also in
recent years republished the Chinese textbook called “The Marx project”
compiled by the publishers of the “History of the international communist
movement”. Therefore, we should face the truth and the fake truth, and also the
true colors of history, so that the majority of people can see the truth
through objective thinking and with a clear conscience, and after a profound
reflection, reach a profound understanding of Stalin's great historical
position. At the same time, they will develop a profound understanding of
sinister intentions of the anti-Stalin hostile forces of those times. “Although
Stalin made some serious mistakes in the later stages, his life was the life of
a great Marxist-Leninist revolutionary. In his youth, Stalin struggled against
the tsarist system and spread Marxism-Leninism, and after participating in the
leadership of the Party Central Committee, struggled to prepare for the 1917
revolution. After the October Revolution, Stalin struggled to defend the fruits
of the October Revolution. In the three decades after the death of Lenin, in
order to build socialism, to defend the socialist motherland, to develop the
world communist movement and struggle, Stalin, on the whole, always stood in
the front of the historical trend to guide the struggle, and was an
irreconcilable enemy of imperialism.” [1](P574) The Political Bureau of the CPC
Central Committee spoke these words, and the experience of more than 60 years
of severe historical tests, further spreads the light of this truth.

The evaluation of such a great Marxist as Stalin,
should grasp the essentials.

Stalin was a great Marxist-Leninist. His
contributions to theory of Marxism-Leninism and his profound knowledge of
Marxist-Leninist practice and development left his successors far behind.
Stalin never described his theory as "Stalinism"; so-called
"Stalinism", originated as a word imposed on him by his enemies. He
insisted on objectively treating his relationship with the founders of Marxism,
and on always being a student of and successor to Leninism. The most important
aspects of Stalin's adherence to and development of Leninist theory are the
following: First, Stalin enriched and developed Lenin's idea of building
socialism in one country, shaping it as a systematic theory. Second, Stalin
creatively put forward the guiding ideology of Soviet socialist transformation
and construction. Thirdly, Stalin's research on some theoretical problems in
the socialist society of the Soviet Union is rich in theoretical achievements.
Fourthly, many theoretical explorations of Stalin's later years are of
particular theoretical value. On the relationship between Stalin and Lenin, the
comments of the Russian philosopher Richard Ivanovic Kozolapov in January 1998
are worth pondering. He said: "Stalin gave later Soviet leaders an object
lesson in moral education, for as the leader he was the only one who did not
belittle others and raise his own prestige. Some people may oppose this view
and say that it is because of Lenin. But the words and deeds of 'democrats'
such as Gorbachev and Yakovlev, Volkonov and Ratsev, have fully proven that for
several US dollars they would even dare to insult Christ. Stalin always
remembered Lenin, although his relationship with Lenin was very complicated in
his later years, but he never betrayed the oath he made on the tomb of his
leader." This evaluation is objective and fair.

Stalin led the socialist construction of the 1930s
and made brilliant achievements, so that the Soviet Union began to enter the
ranks of the powerful nations. The Russian scholar Yukimov, editor of
"Records: History and Reality", published a commentary on Stalin:
“The Great and Mysterious Stalin” which evaluated Stalin thus: “Stalin has
already become one of the symbolic figures of the twentieth century and is
arguably the greatest politician and state activist of the Soviet Union. Over
the past century, no-one has ever led one of the world's most powerful
countries like the Soviet Union for more than 30 years, and has endured every
test and defeated every enemy. The Communist Party, founded by Lenin, under
Stalin's leadership, proved to the world that the socialist system had great
dynamism and potential and created a path to the future for mankind. The
Communist Party ended capital's exploitation of the working people, and the
poverty and unemployment associated with it. After the completion of the
cultural revolution in the Soviet Union, the working people’s level of
education and knowledge was first in the world. In the 13 years prior to WWII
they completed several "five-year plans", so that Soviet industry rose
from that of a backward country to the most advanced in Europe, and to second
place in the world. Agriculture underwent socialist transformation and laid the
foundation for the rapid development of industry. Developments In science and
technology development made great achievements. The people of the Soviet Union
lived in a friendly and harmonious manner.” This text can be seen as
contemporary Russia's objective and impartial evaluation of Stalin's leadership
of socialist construction.

Stalin
was the paramount leader and great commander of the great Soviet patriotic war.
The victory of the anti-fascist war is always a testament to the great Stalin.
At a time when the world's major capitalist countries could not stop the attack
by the fascist military forces, and the United States and other countries had
not opened up the Second Front, the Soviet Red Army led by Stalin became the
main force of the victory over fascism, and captured Berlin, completely
destroying fascism. Stalin's name is always linked to the victory of the people
over fascism.

Originally,
at the beginning of Gorbachev’s reforms in the Soviet Union, the CPSU explained
that the anti-Stalin's actions at that time were aimed at "getting rid of
Stalinism and cleverly defending Lenin and Leninism." But this was not the
result, and the trend treacherously moved from negating Stalin to a
comprehensive negation of Lenin. At the February 1990 plenary meeting of the
Soviet Communist Party in the Soviet Union, the editor-in-chief of the Soviet
Cultural News stated: "We have seen discussion in some magazines of the
evil role of the October Revolution and Lenin's own disaster in subsequent
countries. Stalin was only considered to have inherited Lenin's career in
terror. "[10] (P140) When the Soviet Union passed into history, Gorbachev
described his true thoughts to Japan's Ikeda Daisaku: "The Communist
Manifesto largely contains the extremist revolutionary things inherited from
the Leftist communists of the French Revolution ". "The tragedy of
Russia lies in fact that the ideology of Western Europe had already died in the
later years of Karl Marx, but in the early twentieth century Russia was chosen,
and it was introduced into the actual society of Russia. This was an
unfortunate mistake. Lenin, especially in his younger days, was more dogmatic
than Marx's comrade Engels."[11] (P361) This is Gorbachev's confession of
betrayal. The result was inevitable. Originally, Stalin’s cause was inherited
from Lenin and Stalin's negation became Lenin’s negation. The denial of Stalin
by reactionary forces at home and abroad is always a complete denial of the
Communist Party, a denial of Lenin, and a denial of the turning point of the
path of the October Revolution.

In
today's China, how to evaluate Stalin is still a major political issue that
concerns the future and destiny of the country. Some people have an excuse to
oppose Stalin, denying the dictatorship of the proletariat, the socialist basic
system, the socialist ideology, and the leadership of the Communist Party as
"the Soviet model" or the so-called "Stalin model". And
some even deny Marxism-Leninism, scientific socialism, and communist ideals as
the so-called "Stalin socialist model", as well as undermining the
basic concept of socialist ideology. In fact, this is a major political
struggle which is going on in China.

4 To defend the road of the October Revolution is
to adhere to the premise of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nationThe Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China (CPC), in 1956 summed up the historical experience of
the dictatorship of the proletariat, formed in the historical experience since
the October Revolution, and pointed out: "It is of particular significance
to defend the Marxist-Leninist road opened up by the October Revolution. When
the imperialists proclaim that they want to bring about a "change of character
of that [communist] world," it is precisely this revolutionary path which
they want to change.” [1] (P568)

This conclusion from 60 years ago, is as if it had
come from today’s reality. Those who said "Lenin and Stalin were two of
the knives who killed China," those who distorted the most basic socialist
system of the Soviet era into "Stalin's model" and then distorted the
"three whales", those who described politics, economics and ideology
as "three monopolies" in the basic socialist system of the Soviet
Union, are the same kind of people as those who attempted to change the
socialist road opened up by the October Revolution. They deny the basic system
of socialism in the October Revolution, and in fact, they are trying to divert
China from the road of the October Revolution, that is, they oppose the
rejuvenation of China and the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Studying Lenin and Stalin as pioneers in the cause
of socialism, or studying Gorbachev as a traitor to the cause of socialism, is
a major choice in front of all socialists. In recent years, some people think
that the so-called "Soviet lesson is not necessarily a lesson for China
", meaning that the social democratic formula, although it was able to
destroy the Soviet Union, might be able to succeed in China. This is a vain
attempt to attempt to perpetrate a fraud on the fate of the 1.3 billion Chinese
people. In the spring of 2007, the debate on democratic socialism also
illustrated this question. Some people lied that "only democratic
socialism can save China", and that "Marx and Engels in their later
years did not believe in communism," but this was strongly rebutted by
upright and honest scholars, so there was already not much market for their
lies. But the essence of the question, is whether we should advance along
Lenin's socialist road of the October Revolution, or whether to embrace
Gorbachev's democratic socialism.

Comrade Xi Jinping celebrating the 95th anniversary
of the founding of the Communist Party of China, said: " As everything
moves forward, we must remember the path we have trodden; no matter how far we
go and how glorious our future may be, we can never forget the past, and we can
never forget why we embarked on this journey in the first place. As we confront
the future and face challenges, our Party must stay true to its cause and
continue marching forward."[12]

Since the Opium War, Chinese volunteers have been
fighting for 170 years along the path of the Chinese nation's revival. In the
170 years of difficult exploration of this road, in the several centuries-old
history of the Chinese people, it has only been since the October Revolution
that we have found the dawning of hope. Take the road of the Russians, this has
been the conclusion. In this century of hopeful history, it was only by the
Communist Party members advancing along the road of the October Revolution, not
fearing sacrifices, struggling heroically for 28 years to lay the foundation of
national renaissance, and establishing of New China that Chinese nation rose in
the East. The 68-year history of New China’s national rejuvenation, only by
overcoming all obstacles, and going from victory to victory, has brought about
the bright future of today’s great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

If we are to continue to go forward, and to advance
towards the glorious future, we must keep in mind that our "original
intention" was to be "for the pure heart of the people," always
standing on the side of the overwhelming majority of the people, adhering to
the cause of serving the people. "Standing on the people’s side represents
the fundamental political stance of the CPC, and it is what distinguishes a
Marxist political party from other political parties." Putting the people
at the very center of their hearts, all members of the CPC should uphold the
CPC’s fundamental tenet of wholeheartedly serving the people; work to realize,
safeguard, and develop the fundamental interests of the people; and take the
support, approval, satisfaction, and consent of the people as the fundamental
criterion for appraising all initiatives. Doing these will give the CPC an inexhaustible
source of strength."[12] The purity of heart of our Communists is loyalty
to the fundamental interests of the people. It was only the support of the
people for the leadership of the revolution by the Communist Party that enabled
us to create political power; it is only the people’s trust in the Communist
Party, that enabled us to defeat all the destructive trouble-making of enemies
at home and abroad; it is only the people's public awareness of the reform that
has enabled us to continue its in-depth development. We can only undertake
reform in the name of the people, and never in the name of reform deviate from
or hurt the interests of the people. The reason for the movement for education
in the mass line, undertaken since the 18th Party Congress, has been to
emphasize this point. Article 5 of the "Guidelines on the Political Life
of the Party in the New Situation" adopted by the Sixth Plenary Session of
the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Party put forward the requirement to
"Adhere to the government and the people, be responsible to the people, work
for the people, never be self-opinionated or domineering in front of the
masses, never allow the official to be the master, do not ignore the sufferings
of the masses, never oppress the masses, and never damage or encroach on the
interests of the masses."[13] (P19) Those who at every turn slander the
masses of the people are "trouble-making people", those who cannot
move to the elite to try to suppress the people by wielding the big stick of
"criticising populism", are people who do not keep the to the rules
for Communists, which is a serious error of political stance. Chairman Mao said
that the Communist Party in power was "going to Beijing for an exam",
and that the examiner is the people. The set of theories, rules and positions
of the Communist Party of China were completely transmitted to us by the Soviet
Union and the Soviet Union after the October Revolution. We can never deviate
from these instructions of the October Revolution. [At the time of the ancient
Chinese imperial examination system, the students of the country first went
through the township exam to be a scholar, and then those who passed the county
examinations became eligible to enter the Beijing exam for the highest level of
scholar. Those who failed the exam had to return home. On March 23, 1949, Mao
Zedong and other central leaders traveled from Xibaipo to Beijing to take over
the control of the whole country. Along the road, Mao Zedong excitedly remarked
to Zhou Enlai: "Today is the day to ‘go to Beijing for the exam', let’s go
and do it". Zhou Enlai smiled and replied: "We should be able to pass
the exam, we won’t have to return home.” Mao Zedong said: "To go home is
to fail. We will never become a Li Zicheng, we all want to get a good test
result!" Li Zicheng (1606-1645) was a Chinese rebel leader who overthrew
the Ming Dynasty in 1644 and ruled over China briefly as the emperor of the
short-lived Shun Dynasty before his death a year later – Trans.]

If we are to continue to go forward, and to advance
towards the glorious future, we must keep in mind that our "original
intention" was the guidance of Marxism-Leninism and the combination of the
truth of Marxism-Leninism with the reality of the Chinese revolution. The most
valuable thing that has been given to us by torch of the October Revolution is
the Marxist-Leninist methodology of the scientific worldview. This world view
methodology indicates that the highest goals we pursue are the ideals and
beliefs of communism. Marxism-Leninism is the ideological system of scientific
communism. In the century following the October Revolution, all the ruling
Communists who adhere to this guiding ideology and ideals and beliefs have been
able to develop, progress and succeed; on the other hand, those who deviated
from this and betrayed this ideology and these ideals and beliefs, experienced
decline, unrest, and collapse. This is a matter of common knowledge. Being
clear on this point is essential to the success or failure of our party's
cadres.

Our party's victorious development is most
fundamentally because our party has always adhered to the guidance of
Marxism-Leninism in the past 96 years and upheld the ideals and beliefs of
socialism and communism. Xi Jinping said: "Whether it is in good times or
adversity, our party’s faith in Marxism will never be shaken."
"Marxism is the fundamental guiding thought upon which our Party and
country are founded. Were we to depart from or abandon Marxism, our Party would
lose its soul and its direction."[12]

In a sense, the disintegration of the Soviet Union
began with Khrushchev's abandonment of the Marxist theory of the dictatorship
of the proletariat. He castrated Marxism's important theory of the need to
uphold the dictatorship of the proletariat during the whole period of
capitalism to communism. He believed that the Communist Party did not need the
dictatorship of the proletariat after the establishment of its own regime, thus
proposing the "the party of the whole people" and "the state of
the whole people" and other absurd theories, believing he had innovatively
developed Marxism, but in reality, he completely deviated from Marxism. This
caused the socialist system in the Soviet Union to collapse, and led finally to
the death of the party.

Therefore, whether or not to adhere to the truth of
Marxism-Leninism is the most important thing in the life or death of socialist
countries. The Party Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core,
has repeatedly emphasised that Marxism-Leninism should be really studied,
really understood, really believed, and really used. Indeed, this decides
whether or not the socialist countries are stable and united, whether they can
continue to take the socialist road and whether they can achieve national
rejuvenation. This is the key issue. The truth of the Marxism-Leninism sent to
China by the October Revolution is the most precious treasure of the Chinese
nation; it absolutely cannot be discarded.

If we are to continue to go forward, and to advance
towards the glorious future, it must be firmly kept in mind that the reason
that we started out was to thoroughly carry revolution through to the end. As
for the party of the proletariat, the advanced nature of the Communist Party
comes from the advanced nature of the proletariat, it is the most radical
organization of the revolution. The communists have played a leading role in
both the revolutionary wars of the past and the long-term peaceful
construction, and are all models of advancing the revolution at various stages.
For this reason, the revolutionary thoroughness of the Communists is the
starting point for the complete realization of the cause of communism. As the
ideal of communism requires difficult work for a long-term, and passes through
all kinds of hardships, time and again some people fall behind, some people
leave, and only the communist fighters persevere to the end and are the
mainstay of the cause of communism along the road of revolution. In this
regard, from Mao Zedong to General Secretary Xi Jinping there is a certain
sense of urgency. They have constantly reminded us to have the spirit of “entering the capital for the exam”, they are
concerned that the cause of the party and the country will always develop in
the right direction. Ninety li is only half of a hundred li journey. [An
idiomatic expression meaning that the going is toughest towards the end of a
journey and that one must sustain one’s efforts when a task is nearing
completion - Trans.] The greater the prospect of the great rejuvenation of the
Chinese nation, the more necessary is it to prevent disruption and mistakes. To
have a clear mind and a sense of urgency, and to be good at defusing risks and
difficulties is the greatest loyalty to the cause of the October Revolution.

In socialist China, we have been fortunate to have
produced several generations of leaders following on from Mao Zedong who have
insisted on Marxist guidance. The supreme power of the state is in the hands of
Marxists who have persisted in the road of socialism with Chinese
characteristics, especially after the 18th Congress formed a centralized and
unified leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as
the core. This has been the nation’s good fortune. As long as we cultivate
millions of reliable successors of socialism, and advance socialism amongst the
broad masses of the young people, and educate people in communist ideals and
beliefs, we will be able to ensure that China's socialist cause will not
deteriorate for generations to come. We firmly believe that under the strong
leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core,
proceeding along the socialist road opened up and laid down by Mao Zedong and
inherited and developed by successive leading groups, the Chinese people will
surely achieve their historic success. The dream of the Great Rejuvenation of
the Chinese Nation will certainly be successful.

At present, the cause of socialism is still at a low
ebb. But the concept of a low tide should be dialectical, not absolute; it is
in development rather than being fixed. Marxists have always advocated the use
of materialist dialectics to approach their own circumstances.

In 1956, the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of China Central Committee collectively discussed and wrote "More on
the history of the dictatorship of the proletariat", reflecting deeply on
the emergence of world socialism saying: "Temporary and partial failures
have occurred in the past and are still occurring in the present, they will
occur in the future also. Failure is the mother of success. Indeed, the
temporary and partial failures of the recent past have already enriched the
political experience of the international proletariat and will help to pave the
way for great successes in the years to come. Compared with the history of the
bourgeois revolutions in Britain and France, the failures in our cause are of
little or no account. The bourgeois revolution in Britain stared in 1640. The
defeat of the king was followed by Cromwell’s dictatorship. Then came the
restoration of the old royal house in 1660. It was not until 1688 when the
bourgeois party staged a coup d’etat inviting to England a king who brought
with him troops and naval forces from the Netherlands that the British bourgeois
dictatorship was consolidated. During the eighty-six years from its outbreak in
1789 to 1875, when the Third Republic was established, the bourgeois revolution
in France went through a particularly stormy period, fluctuating in rapid
succession between progress and reaction, republicanism and monarchy,
revolutionary terror and counter-revolutionary terror, civil war and foreign
war, the conquest of foreign lands and capitulation to foreign states. Although
the socialist revolution faces the concerted opposition of all the
reactionaries in the world, its course as a whole is remarkably steady. This
genuinely reflects the unparalleled vitality of the socialist system.”[1] (P593)

In commemorating the 100th anniversary of the
October Revolution, we can completely say that the low tide in the cause of
socialism is inevitable, but the low tide will inevitably become the past
through the efforts of the proletarian vanguard party and progressive people.
The low tide is just a good time for us to reflect on history and sum up the
lesson. The period of the low tide is also a great time for us to seriously
reflect on history. The period of the low tide is a time for us to keep in
touch with the masses and carry out timely changes free from worry. By the conscientious
efforts of the proletarian vanguard party and progressive people the great
rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will be realized and the high tide of the
development of the socialist cause will arrive.………………………………..